1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to article display and storage devices, and more particularly to a two-piece storage device adapted to receive a small article, such as a coin, a medal, a token or the like, and provide a generally air-tight capsule for enclosing the article.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various display devices have been proposed for storing articles, such as coins, tokens, medals, stamps, and the like which comprise a collection of such articles. For example, in coin collecting, one of the most widely used coin holders is the Whitman holder which comprises a heavy paper or cardboard booklet having a plurality of leaves each of which comprises a heavy pressed paper page, which is apertured to permit display of both sides of the coins. The coins are held in place by plastic sleeves which are inserted between the board and an attached paper lamination.
It is known that coins stored in such storage devices are subject to tarnish from prolonged contact with the paper which comprises the leaves of the album. In addition, the plastic sleeve does not provide an airtight seal for the coins, and accordingly, the coins are subject to tarnish from contaminents in the air.
Other known display and storage devices provide a transparent holder to encapsulate the coins to minimize tarnishing of the coins from contaminants in the air. A popular coin holder in use consists of a plastic coin board sandwiched by two transparent sheets which are fastened together by screws. This type of holder requires complete disassembly to add or remove a single coin, which is time consuming and exposes all of the other coins on the board to damage from handling.
Another article storage device, which is particularly adapted to mounting a coin on a mounting board, includes two flanged cup members which are received in a recess formed in the mounting board and which are held together by a friction type lock provided by interlocking peripheral beads formed on the outer wall of one cup member and the inner wall of the other cup member. A coin is added to the mounting board by placing the coin in one of the cup members and then inserting the mating cup members into an aperture of the board from opposite sides of the board and pressing the cup members together to lock the two cup members in place. However, to remove a coin from the board, the cup members must be pried apart to disengage the locking bead members before the two cup members can be separated, permitting the coin to be removed. Also, the coin may be subjected to damage from handling when it is added to or removed from the mounting board, and repeated use of the holder may result in wearing or breakage of the interlocking bead members, which would prevent the establishment of a suitable friction lock for the mating cup members.
A further known coin display apparatus employs a mounting board having a plurality of threaded recesses for receiving coins and a plurality of threaded cover members which are screwed into the recesses to enclose the coins and secure the coins to the board. To add a coin to the board, a threaded cover member is removed from the board, and the coin is placed in the corresponding recess. The threaded cover member is then screwed into the recess to enclose the coin. To remove a coin from the board, the threaded cover is unscrewed, exposing the coin which then can be lifted out of the recess in the board. However, this arrangement only provides for mounting of a plurality of coins and the coins are exposed to tarnishing or other damage in adding a coin to the mounting board or removing the coin from the mounting board.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an article display and storage device for encapsulating an article, such as a coin, a medal, a token or the like, and which is simple to use and durable in construction. It would also be desirable to have a display and storage device which facilitates the addition or removal of an article to a display board without subjecting the article to damage from handling or exposure to the atmosphere.